The battle goes on
ON July 4, when a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the latter’s legal turf war over administrative jurisdiction with the Centre, the national capital’s politics entered a new phase. The hitherto beleaguered AAP and its government, led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, which were in a tight spot following successive defeats in elections and adverse rulings in courts, received a shot in the arm with the court’s emphatic pronouncements.
In a unanimous ruling, all five judges unequivocally stated that the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi had the decisive say in all aspects of governance except for land, police and law and order, which were subjects reserved for the Centre. The ruling seemed to uphold the position that the AAP has held ever since the controversy arose in its current tenure. Within hours of the judgment, Kejriwal and his Ministers held a Cabinet meeting and announced that the government was expediting key projects that had slowed down owing to disagreements with the bureaucracy and/or the Lieutenant Governor’s (L.G.) office. Announcing this on Twitter, Kejriwal wrote: “Cabinet meeting held. Directed all functionaries of Del govt to function according to the order of Hon’ble SC. Also directed to expedite proposals of doorstep delivery of rations and CCTV now.”
In a briefing with reporters, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said since the judgment had identified only three reserved subjects, the subject of “services” would now be back in the elected government’s domain. It had been under the Centre’s purview since May 2015 when the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a notification stating that services, or handling the transfers and postings of government officials, were under the Union government’s purview. Sisodia also clarified that the AAP’S agitation for full Statehood for Delhi would continue. The judgment had identified the national capital as neither a State nor a Union Territory.
In subsequent days, the Delhi government appeared to have regained the momentum which it displayed before August 2016 when the Delhi High Court ruled against it in the dispute with the Union government. This was evident in the Chief Minister’s wellpublicised field visits to address citizens’ issues and long-pending decisions taken by the government.
Resistance to this momentum, however, was also immediately evident. When the government wrote to the Services department citing the judgment and claiming authority over transfers and postings of officials, it received a five-page note in response, which stated that since there were no specific directions regarding the MHA’S notification of May 2015, there was little that
CHIEF MINISTER
could be done. In the subsequent days, it became clear that resistance to the Delhi government’s authority from the bureaucracy, the L.G.’S office and the Union government was likely to continue at least until the court passed orders in other related cases. Seeking a resolution, Kejriwal met with the L.G. and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on its part, sought to counter bad press by projecting the July 4 order as a victory for the Centre. The Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta, said on July 4: “The entire machinery of the Kejriwal government and the Aam Aadmi Party is misleading the public as part of a planned strategy. Contrary to their propaganda, the court has cautioned that anarchy has no place in democracy. It has given a judgment in favour of respecting constitutional boundaries which the anarchist Chief Minister has always tried to dismantle.” Gupta also cautioned against raking up the issue of full Statehood in the aftermath of the judgment. “Much against the wishful thinking of Kejriwal, the court has observed that Delhi is a Union Territory and cannot be accorded the status of a State. The Chief Minister must not divert public attention from his failures by bringing the issue of Statehood to the forefront,” he said.
Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley wrote on Facebook: “The opinion of the court gives due importance to the opinion of the elected State government but maintains the primacy of the Central government in the larger interest of the national capital.”